


A Lesson in Reading

by orphan_account



Series: Are We Cool Yet? [28]
Category: SCP Foundation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-14
Updated: 2020-11-14
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:20:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27562936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: It might be cute for Shy and Peanut to wander around. Please excuse any purple prose I just think the Wanderers Library is frikkin awesome, and when I describe it on paper I can kinda see it in my head, but I can never tell if I go into too much/not enough detail.Anyways, have some wholesomeness!
Series: Are We Cool Yet? [28]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1974532
Kudos: 9





	A Lesson in Reading

**Author's Note:**

> It might be cute for Shy and Peanut to wander around. Please excuse any purple prose I just think the Wanderers Library is frikkin awesome, and when I describe it on paper I can kinda see it in my head, but I can never tell if I go into too much/not enough detail.
> 
> Anyways, have some wholesomeness!

This place is big. Maybe bigger than the Foundation. Honey-colored wood stretches to what seems like a kind of sky, and I wonder if you could climb forever, all the way up to the multicolored stars and nebulae.

Peanut came down a few moments ago. They seemed restless, and we decided to go for a walk. We're not far from our little corner yet. I have to keep stopping and waiting when someone looks at Peanut. But I don't mind. There's so much to see, and so many books. Enough that it might take a lifetime to finish a single shelf.

There are anomalies everywhere. Many legged beings, glowing men, sentient orbs and clouds floating about the shelves. Some look a bit like me.

There are spidery ones shuffling through books, and others swinging lamps that, when I look closer, I realize have no mouths.

"Wait and stop?" Peanut asks. "I would like to see these books."

"Alright."

They stop by a shelf, scanning the titles. They all look like gibberish to me, some in the same lettering as the scientists use, some that look more like little pictures. I run a hand down the velvety spines. "I wish I could read."

"You do not know how? I must show you." Whatever book Peanut was holding is slammed back into its slot.

I could learn to read? I could learn to read. I never thought I'd have the chance.

"I will need a book with big letters. I do not have fingers for pointing to small ones."

Something rattles behind me, and I jump. One of the mouthless beings shakes it's lantern at us, as if beckoning.

"H-hi?" I venture. It doesn't answer, or course. "Do you know where we can find one of those?"

It shakes its head, then nods, then beckons again. I'm not sure how to interpret that. 

"We will follow," Peanut says, and the creature swings around. I see others like it around is and in the distance, some so far away they're just gold lights, leading people and anomalies a like.

We come to another wall, printed with a tired kind of tan-gold paper. Beyond it is a circular room with no shelves, with a ring of desks in the middle. I can smell the rich wood varnish as we approach. The creature nods at us, swings it's lantern in a friendly way, and walks off again.

"Hello," say a new creature, on the other side of the desk. This one, like the others around it, has no eyes. "What are you looking for."

"Erm," I say. "Where are we?"

"You must be new here. This is the Main Hall, and we are the Archivists. We know where all of the books are at any time, every book written and yet to be written, a few that won't ever be... and that gentleman you followed? A Docent. They cannot speak, but they will take you where you need to go. And you came here because you were looking for something, yes?"

"We are needing a book with big letters."

"That's," The Archivist paused, "that's it?"

"Yes. He cannot read and is needing to start somewhere."

Although they sound a bit annoyed, I think Peanut likes being here. The Archivists can't look at him, and most everyone else is at one of the reading tables, nose buried in a book.

"In that case, you can find Baby's First Alphabet Book to the north, seventy-five shelves to the right and two forward, on the second shelf from the ground."

Okay, that sounds confusing. "Could a Docent take us?"

"Of course." The Archivist sighs and rings a bell. After a moment, another Docent comes and leads us down rows of shelves. There are people eating, sleeping, and talking in some of the higher ones, swinging their legs over the edge and laughing. This place really is a kind of haven. 

It makes my heart hurt to think he'll never get to see it...

The Docent makes a sharp left and taps a large book with a spindly finger, before nodding and wandering away again. Peanut pulls out the book and flips it open. There's a different shape on each page.

"Here," Peanut says, "this is A."

"A." I'm not really sure how this is supposed to help, but we go over the book time and time again, until the lights begin to dim. They tuck the book under their arm, and we head back to our shelves. The alphabet is still running through my head, and I recognize a few snatches of letters on the spines of books.

Reading. I'm reading.


End file.
